Customer Reviews
amazing amazon value - By: julie, 22 Aug 2010 
what amazing value for money this purchase is! Two discs & all those classic tracks, cant fail to please if you are a country music lover.
Still "The Man" - By: Michael Loft, 25 Sep 2009 
This double CD incorporates all the great tracks that I have loved listening to & playing over the last few decades, & is more than just a "Best of" compilation. If I had to list my favourite Merle Haggard tracks, the list would be longer than this - the man is such a great songwriter & singer, & so many others have been inspired & influenced by his work, that it is hard to pick out a short list. This compilation will livein the car, & get played on all those long drives home, late night trips, or just cruising around when I need a little company. I salute the selector who decided on the content & running order of the CDs, he had a really hard job, but did a good one here - obviously a great fan too. For the very reasonable cost of this package, this should bein every Hag fan or country nusic fans collection.
Sing Me Back Home - By: Thomas A. Woodford, 27 Apr 2008 This two CD set is a superb introduction to Merle Haggard & represents an absolute bargain. If you are a fan of the Bakersfield sound then look no further. I was astonished at the consistency & brilliance of the material included here. With excellent backing from his band the Strangers; sometimes including the great James Burton on guitar - Merle keeps it simple & the results include some of country music's greatest moments. There can be few better songwritersin any genre. Haggard delivers an abundance of great records here; with customary sadness, beauty & melancholy. Each track sung as brilliantly as ever. You can almost taste the whiskey & smell the smoke from the crowded bar-room. Five stars out of five.
Excellent value - the very best of Merle Haggard's 1962 - 1978 recordings. - By: The Country Grumpkin, 10 Oct 2007 This 2-disc Merle Haggard collection comprises 3 of the 10 sides initially released by the small independent Tally label, & 45 US Capitol recordings from the period 1965 to 1977/8.
These Tally sides became his first 3 Billboard country chart hits: 'Sing A Sad Song' reached no. 19in early 1964; 'Just Between The Two Of Us', with Bonnie Owens, reached no. 28; & '(All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers' went to no. 10.
Disc 1 contains 24 of Merle's Billboard country no. 1 hits on Capitol, whilst Disc 2 has the 3 Tally hits, 13 further Capitol top twenty hits, 2 'A' sides that didn't chart, 4 'B' sides (including 'Sidewalks Of Chicago' & 'Silver Wings'), & a couple of album tracks - Tommy Collins' 'High On A Hilltop', & 'I'll Leave The Bottle At The Bar' (which were not released on singles, as far as I am aware).
Most of Merle's best & best-known songs are here, of which he composed 30 or so - the songs that made him a major country music starin the '60s.
Yep, & not bad at that: pretty much the 'very best of' from the years 1962 to 1978, before he moved on to MCA & later Epic. The only really well-known song from that time that is curiously missing seems to be 'Today I Started Loving You Again', originally the 'B' side of 'The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde' from 1968 - which is included here .
That one is available on various other compilations, however, including last years 'Hag - The Best Of Merle Haggard'. If you bought that one, though, you will already have 15 of these 48 tracks.
Still, this really is an excellent collection, & even if you do have 'Hag..' - as I do, it's well worth the modest price.
A useful 12-page booklet is included containing a brief overview of Merle's long career, & the song composer credits.
